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Vox AC30, old or new?!?


Heineken

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I have always been a fan of the chimey Vox AC30 sound, like The Edge, Brian May, Peter Buck etc. But these guys have rows of old ones and switch between 'm for clean,distorted,breakup etc. And they get to play 'm real loud. So the newer ones have the master volume, FX loop, reverb and tremolo, seems to be too good to be true. But since i can afford only one is the Vox AC30cc2 a "can i haz it all" AC30 or just something like the "vintage" modern Marshalls (like in great amps but as vintage sounding as like Pac-Man on a Playstation 3, hardly comparable to a Plexi or '800)

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Hi there Heineken,

in my opinion go get yourself the VOX AD30VT.

 

I got the AD15VT , but im just playing at home , its just a kickass product.

really.

go and hear it in at the store.. I really like it with my Epiphone Les paul Gold top 56 reissue .

 

best reagrds,

Noam

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  • 5 years later...
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It depends on what you want. If you want a real high quality tone - I mean one of the best tones there has ever been (maybe even THE best tone ever) then get yourself a 1960s AC30. It'll probably cost you about US$2500 or so. If you want something that sounds a bit like it and looks a bit like it - get one of the more recent PCB-based AC30s.

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Some of the old Voxes had some major issues with the circuitry. Thats why you dont see allot of them around like you do with old Fender amps because some many went up in smoke and were to expensive to restore. It was mainly faults in the circuit design and the quality of parts used. The early solid state amps didnt fair much better.

I'd go with a new version that has the kinks ironed out and just use an alnico blue as someone suggested. For the little difference in tone over a vointage one and what you'd spend to get a vintage amp (and the cost to maintain it) you'd be stupid to buy an old Vox. Finding a good tech who could service them right would be hard to find as well. You can google up details on the problems vintage amps had. If you reworked the whole amp it would basicailly be like buying a new one anyway so save your money and get a good reissue.

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Heineken wrote:

 

I have always been a fan of the chimey Vox AC30 sound, like The Edge, Brian May, Peter Buck etc. But these guys have rows of old ones and switch between 'm for clean,distorted,breakup etc. And they get to play 'm real loud. So the newer ones have the master volume, FX loop, reverb and tremolo, seems to be too good to be true. But since i can afford only one is the Vox AC30cc2 a "can i haz it all" AC30 or just something like the "vintage" modern Marshalls (like in great amps but as vintage sounding as like Pac-Man on a Playstation 3, hardly comparable to a Plexi or '800)

 

Alright now I'm not speaking from a position of authority on this issue by any means, BUT..

Be aware insofar as vintage VOX amplifiers are concerned..

In the 60's, after the Beatles landed, Vox amps were all the rage. THOMAS ORGAN COMPANY made a deal with Tom Jennings, the founder of VOX, which Tom thought that Thomas Organ would be buying his amplifiers and distributing in the U.S. Not so.

Instead they set up shop in California and made amplifiers over here with the Vox name on them, but essentially using components out of Thomas organ amplifiers. Cheesy transistor amps that sounded nothing like the tube wonders Tom Jennings was turning out in England.Those,(The Thomas Organ made ones) were the ones that were burning up and blowing up. You don't want one of those. The vintage english made ones are the jewels. The real AC-30 Vox amps had four EL-84 tubes in what was I think considered an unusual design, if memory serves.

So if you're shopping for a vintage one, make sure you see it with the back off! And don't even consider it if it says Thomas Organ Co. anywhere on it unless you want to make an end table of it.

Now...There are plenty of amp historians here and if I am incorrect in these assertions, I would welcome correction, and enlightenment.

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